And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant:
My Lord. The person addressed by Abraham was pitched upon, as it would seem, from some apparent superiority of person or of mien. [It is true that the text has 'Adonaay (H136) (not 'ªdoniy (H113), sir, or 'ªdonay (H113), my lords), which, both in solemn addresses (Genesis 15:2; Genesis 18:30-32; Exodus 4:10; Exodus 4:13; Joshua 7:8; Nehemiah 1:11) and in historical narratives (1 Kings 13:10; 1 Kings 22:6; 2 Kings 7:6; 2 Kings 19:23), is generally equivalent to Yahweh (H3068), the Lord; and it was in this instance also applied exclusively to the Divine Being at a very early period by the Jews, as appears not only from the Masoretic note ( qaadeesh (H6946), sacred) appended to the Hebrew text, but from the rendering in the Septuagint ( kurie (G2962), not kurie (G2962) mou (G3450)), as well as of the Chaldee Paraphrasist.]
'It would seem, nevertheless, that whatever there may have been of the appearance of superiority in the person to whom the patriarch specially addressed himself, Abraham did not at first recognize in Him any strictly divine attribute; and therefore this rendering, however ancient, is not to be defended or followed, but must give place to that of the Samaritan text х 'ªdonay (H113), my Lord], of the Venetian Greek [despot' eme], of our own and other modern versions, in which the language is that which may be employed in reference to say superior, or merely as a courteous form of address' (Henderson 'On Inspiration').
If now I have found favour. The hospitalities offered were just of the kind that are necessary and most grateful-the refreshment of water for feet exposed to dust and heat by the sandals being still the first observed among the pastoral people of Hebron.
Pass not ... from thy servant - i:e., from Abraham himself. This was, in the daily intercourse of life, the style of politeness used by persons in high life to their equals, and of deference from an inferior to a superior (1 Samuel 17:34; 1 Samuel 20:7-8; 1 Samuel 25:24-31). It was often employed, too, as a mark of respectful courtesy to a stranger (1 Samuel 28:2; Daniel 1:2); and in no case was this form of civility dispensed with, except when it was necessary to make a bold assertion of independence (Daniel 3:16-18).